Falls Church Citizens' Advisory Committee on Transportation

It was decided to wait until the November meeting to review minutes.Minutes for April (Charles), July (Maureen), and September (Meredith) are still awaiting review and approval.

It was decided to wait until November to elect new officers, when hopefully the entire committee will be in attendance.

See below under 3.B.1.

The Anderson project is moving ahead.Nothing is happening with the AdCom site. The Eckerd Drug plan is also moving ahead.

1.A letter had been received by the Task Force about parking and traffic problems near Birch and Offutt.There are four school bus stops at this intersection, and trucks for Giant often back up on this street.

2.Neighbors on Marshall St. have signed a petition to have something done about speeding on their street.

3.Citizens on Pennsylvania Ave. are worried about the impact of the Anderson development on traffic on their street.

4.It was agreed that we should get the minutes and letters from the Task Force to read so that we do not need to use meeting time for oral reports

The committee discussed the possibility of doing an event in the spring with the PTA to teach children more about walking, bike, and scooter safety.A Bike Safety Day could also be done in conjunction with the TJ Fun Fair in April or Farm Day in October. These activities could also be tied in with project Earth Watch.The Washington Area Bicyclists Assn. (WABA) might be able to help with these types of events.The possibility of adding bike lanes to some streets, such as Great Falls, Little Falls, Park and Hillwood was also discussed.It was also noted that there is now a lot of experience around the country with communities like Falls Church working on transit issues, and we might want to find a way to learn from some of that experience.

To move ahead with some of these ideas, it was agreed that Sandy and Andrea would get and read Arlington's pedestrian plan and think about how the plan could be adapted for Falls Church.They will report on their progress at the November meeting.

Charles agreed to get a map of the city and divide it up so that each committee member will take a part of the City to note problems with the streets, sidewalks, and other transportation issues.

1.Discussion of a pedestrian plan similar to that of Arlington.

2.Distribution of parts of city to all committee members by Charles to note transportation problems.

1.The electric buses are now expected in mid-November.There has been a problem with the technology.

2.On the light rail issue, he reported that there is a shortage of funds for roads and transit projects in Northern VA, and the Wilson Bridge and transit to Dulles are the top priorities.However, there will be $100 million available over the next few years for transportation studies.In any case, the light rail, if it ever happens, is still many years away.

3.For the Dulles rail project, money has been promised for studying the impacts on Falls Church City, and that money could possibly be used for a study of broader transportation issues in the City.

4.Red light cameras will be up soon at the intersections of Annandale and Hillwood, Annandale and Broad, and Birch and Broad.

5.The City will soon finish putting up special speed zone signs in certain neighborhoods.

6.A citizen has requested that the light at Great Falls and Little Falls be changed to a flashing light or stop sign.At this point, Charles mentioned the need to revisit the right turn on red policy at some intersections, especially Broad and Virginia and Broad and West.A discussion then took place on the possibility of doing a baseline traffic count for the City while waiting for the comprehensive traffic and transportation study.It was pointed out that VDOT may already do annual traffic counts for Broad, Washington, and West Streets.